50th Anniversary Publication - The Grimsby Public Art Gallery
Challenge: Cover Art creation + publication Art Direction
Outcome: Together with the talented Tim Alblas
After initial discussions with the client and determining which direction the project needed to go in, we start right away with developing the cover art. The cover was created first to help introduce the publication and launch pre-sales at one of the GPAG’s largest annual events.
Below are exploratory sketches aiming for something that felt like it was borrowed from 70’s yet still felt contemporary and sophisticated like the gallery itself
Below: The installation of the Kosso sculpture out front of the gallery in the 1970’s. We paid particular notice to the forms of the sculpture being offset and blocky.
This informed the lettering by leading us down the path of making it 3D AND slightly off setting as a gentle nod to the Kosso sculpture.
In order to help figure out how deep the sculpture needed to be, I created it in 3D with the intention of using augmented reality to help visualize and test. Knowing that it was going to be painted and collaged partially with archival materials from the gallery, I needed to determine what the size it needed to be fabricated at. If the piece is too large or too small, the collage elements create challenges.
Augmented Reality
Years ago I did an AR Artist Residency with Adobe and ever since then I’ve used it as a tool for quickly iterating an idea to check what scale or depth something will be.
Sanding & Priming
Had it fabricated using High Density Urethane, which can be pretty toxic if it gets in your system, hence the masking up. The HDU can be carved, cut on a saw or CNC, sanded, and is often used by sign makers as it’s lightweight, solid, and also takes paint well. So it was the prefect option for this project.
Then it was time to start painting and collaging using some archival elements provided by the gallery, such early photos of March break camps, meeting notes, and even some hate mail.
From there we photographed the work, working with Todd Fraser.
